Flexible needle for use in intravenous therapy



'April'l, 1958 s. HIRSCH ET AL 2,828,744

FLEXIBLE NEEDLE FOR USE IN INTRAVENOUS THERAPY I Filed Feb. 15, 1956 'alllll INVENTORS S/DNEY H/RSc gw AM/uvssA W- A TORNEY United State Patefit' F FLEXIBLE NEEDLE FOR USE IN INTRAVENOUS TEERAPY Sidney Hirsch, Cedarhurst, and Alvin A. Mansbach, New York, N. Y.

Application February 13, 1956, Serial No. 565,119

8 Claims. (Cl. 128-221) The invention relates to hypodermic needles employed for intravenous therapy.

Heretofore it has been the practice to completely immobilize the arm or other portion of the body when conducting intravenous therapy because prior needles were so long and rigid that any movement would cause the needle already in the vein to puncture the same at its point. Such additional punctures create a by-pass about the needle for the blood coursing through the vein thereby rendering the vein and the intravenous therapy ineffective.

It is the purpose of the invention to provide an im proved needle that is particularly adapted for blood transfusion, intravenous feeding and other intravenous therapy.

An object of the invention is to provide a needle that is capable of flexing with the portion of the body into which it is inserted in order to communicate With the vein for intravenous therapy without fear of additionally puncturing the vein.

There have been attempts to find a needle for intravenous therapy that would not require complete immobilization of the applied part of the body. Accordingly, it is another object of the invention to provide a needle for intravenous therapy that eliminates the requirement for complete immobilization of the applicable part of the body.

Further objects of the invention reside in the ease with which the needle may be manufactured and employed.

2,828,744 Patented Apr. 1,

- 2 flexible tube 18 may be of any desired length, and securely connected to the needle 12 within the widened rear portion of the opening 16. p

The forward end of the tube 18 seats on a shoulder 20 resulting from the widened opening 16, and is retained in this position by the application of a press-fit connecting sleeve 22 that also seats against the shoulder 20. The

Other and further objects of my invention reside in the structures and arrangements hereinafter more fully described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

' Fig. 1 is a side view of the complete needle constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a sectional side view of the needle.

Fig. 3 is a sectional side view of the forward portion of the needle and including the stylet.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the front end of a erally identified by the numeral 18. The device 10 comprises a forward needle 12 that is materially shorter in length in relation to the length of hypodermic needles presently in use, and has a point 14 provided at its forward end.

The needle 12 is hollow, having an opening 16 therein that is Wider or flared at the interior rear portion of the needle for connection with a flexible tube 18. The flexible tube 18 may be of any inert material such as polytetrafluorethylene, generally referred to as Teflon. The

sleeve 22 has an outside diameter of such size as to'fit tightly against the inside surface of the tube 18 to securelyretain the same against the inside of the flared portion ofthe opening 16 of the needle 12. This connection between the tube 18 and the needle '12 reinforced by thesleeve 22, is secure and cannot be overcome, unless manual pressure or other mechanical pressure is placed thereon. Forces exerted on this connection during normal use of the hypodermic needle are not such as to overcome or break this connection. 4

The flexible tube 18 interconnects the needle 12 with a fitting 24 secured to the other end thereof. Although the fitting 24 may be of anytdesired type, it is preferred that it be a Luer fitting now commonly used with hypodermic needles. The Luer fitting 24 is securely connected to the other end of the flexible tube 18 by way of a bushing 26 press-fitted within the end of tube 18. Bushing 26 is inserted into the hub portion of the Luer fitting 24 and engages the rear end of the tube 18 to flare the same into press-fitting engagement with the inside of" the Luer fitting.

Because the hypodermic needle structure 10 is flexible,

it is necessary to hold the same rigid while the needle point 14 is inserted through the skin and into the vein. To do this, there is provided a stylet 28. The stylet 28 comprises a long rod-like body having a head 30 at one end thereof and a narrowed body portion 32 at the other end thereof. The stylet 28 is inserted through the communicating openings in first the fitting 24, thenthe hollow of the tube 18, and thence into the opening 16 of the needle 12. It extends for the full length of the hypodermicneedle, and has provided at its lower portion defining the two bodies 28 and 32, a shoulder 34 (see Fig. 3). The shoulder 34 is adapted to cooperate with the rear shoulder of the sleeve 22 of the connection between the flexible tube 18 and the needle 12. The rear shoulder of'the sleeve 22 thus constitutes an abutment for the shoulder 34 onthe stylet 28 for a purpose which will be described. The forward end of the stylet is tapered to a point 36 which coincides with the taper of the tapered surface .38 of the needle 12 to result in the point 14 thereon.

When the stylet 28 is inserted through the communicating openings of the fitting 24, tube 18 and needle.12, its tapered end forming a point 36 fits into the needle 12 and should coincide with the tapered surface 38. This is so that the tapered end of the stylet and surface 38 form a unitary, smooth needle point surface. To thus predeterminately align the taper forming the point 36 of the stylet 28 with the taper of the surface 38 of the needle 12, there is provided on the Luer fitting 24 a suitable aligning means which may take the form of a flat surface or an abutment, not shown in the figures of the drawing.

The aligning means will correctly align the stylet so that its tapered point 36 will align'with the tapered surface 38 of the needle 12. To do this, the head 30 of the stylet 28 is provided with a hub 40 and a cooperating aligning or abutment means 41. The aligning abutment 3 r means 41 on the head 30 will cooperate with the abutment means or aligning means on the Luer fitting 24 to assure a predetermined positioning and alignment between the taper at the end of the stylet forming the point 36 and the tapered surface 38 of the needle 12.

With the stylet 28 located within the fitting 24, the flexible tube 18 and the needle 12, the hypodermic needle structure will be rigid and will remain supported in this condition, with the stylet shoulder 34 abutting against the rear shoulder of the sleeve 22. When the point 14 of the hypodermic needle 19 is to be inserted through the skin and into a vein, pressure is applied to the needle 12 at the head 30 of the stylet 28. This pressure is transmitted to the shoulder 34 of the stylet, and as a consequence, transmitted to the rear shoulder of the sleeve 22.

Forward pressure is thus directly exerted on the needle 12 for its point 14 to pierce the skin and pass into the vein therebeneath. The needle 12 of the hypodermic needle structure may then be inserted into the vein for any desired distance along with a portion of the inter- Connected flexible tube 18. Once the hypodermic needle 10 has been inserted into the vein for the desired depth, the stylet 28 is withdrawn from the needle structure 10, permitting the tubing 18 to bend and to accommodate movement of the applicable part of the body. To those who are familiar with the art however, it will be recognized that the flexible tubing 18 here employed may remain in the vein for days without causing any venous or skin irritation.

Once the hypodermic needle 10 is within the vein in its proper location and the stylet 28 is withdrawn therefrom, the Luer fitting 24 may be connected to any desired intravenous therapy equipment. Movement of the ap plicable part of the body will be compensated for by the flexible tubing 18, and therefore will not in any way cause the needle 12 to move within the vein, nor will its movement, if any, be of any consequence, since the length of the needle 12 is so short as to be readily accommodated within the vein without creating additional punctures therein by its needle point 14.

When it is desired to remove the hypodermic needle 10 from the vein, it is merely necessary to exert pressure against either the fitting 24 or the tubing 18, slowly withdrawing the same from the vein and from the skin. However, to insure smooth withdrawal, and to obviate any irritation of the vein or skin during the withdrawal operation, there is provided between the needle 12 and the tubing 18, a smooth, inwardly flaring joint at 42. The rear of the needle 12 is tapered and curved smoothly and rounded into communication with the tubing 18 to provide a joint therebetwcen that would, for all intents and purposes, be unbroken, having no openings or rough edges. Thus, when the needle and tubing 18 are removed from the vein and skin, the smooth joint 42 therebetween will create no undue disturbance to the vein or skin and will smoothly slide therefrom.

The needle shown in Figs. 2 and 3 is shown also in Fig. 5, wherein the tapered surface 38 cuts the opening 16 at an angle to form the point 14. When the forward portion of the needle 12 is thus cut at an angle to leave the tapered surface 38, the opening 16 is substantially elongated and larger at the surface 38 than it is of crosssection within the needle 12. Although this needle is shown to be employed in the hypodermic needle structure 10 in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, it is also possible that a modified needle structure such as shown in Fig. 4 may be employed.

The modified needle 112 shown in Fig. 4 also has a smoothly flaring joint 142 connected to the flexible tubing 18 at the rear portion thereof. To form its point 114 however, its forward end may be swaged or struck to form the tapered surface 138, thereby instead of el0ngating the forward end of the opening 116, the opening 116 is narrowed and takes more nearly the size of its 4 cross-section within the needle 11?... The swaged tapered surface 138 is smoothly formed and has no irregular edges or obstructions.

From the foregoing it will be clear that there is provided a novel hypodermic needle 1!? having a needle point or needle structure 12 of very short length, smoothly connected to a flexible tubing it; which is then connected at its other end to a fitting 2 2- preferably of the Luer type. This construction has a communicating interior opening permitting the communication of intravenous therapy devices with a desired vein, the length of the needle 12 being so short as to eliminate the possibility of additional deleterious punctures of the vein when the hypodermic needle is placed therein, thus thereby eliminating the need to completely immobilize the applicable part of the body and permitting slight movements thereof.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to several preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices illustrated and in their operations may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto.

. We claim:

l. A needle structure for intravenous therapy comprising a needle of relatively short length and including a point at one of its ends, a flexible tube connected at its one end to the other end of said needle, a fitting secured to the other end of said flexible tube, and a stylet inskin and into the vein.

2. A device for intravenous therapy comprising a hollow needle, a flexible tube, a connection between said needle and one end of said tube, said connection including a rigid sleeve having an abutment shoulder, a fitting secured to the other end of said tube, and a stylet inserted into said fitting, tube and needle, said stylet having shoulder means thereon to cooperate with said abutment shoulder and having means cooperating with said fitting to align the stylet into a predetermined relationship with said needle.

3. An intravenous therapy device comprising a needle, a fitting and a flexible tube interconnecting said needle and fitting, said needle, flexible tube and fitting having a communicating opening, and means inserted into said opening to support said needle, flexible tube and fitting in rigid alignment.

4. An intravenous therapy device comprising a needle, a fitting and a flexible tube interconnecting said needle and fitting, said needle, flexible tube and fitting having a communicating opening, and means inserted into said opening to support said needle, flexible tube and fitting in rigid alignment, said needle and flexible tube being interconnected by a rigid sleeve abutting said needle and having an abutment shoulder, said inserted means having a shoulder thereon for abutting cooperation with said abutment shoulder.

5. In an intravenous therapy device, a hollow needle of relatively short length having a tapered point at one end and a counterbore at its other end, a flexible tube having one end snugly inserted into said counterbore, the outer surface of the needle in the region of the counterbore being tapered and curved smoothly inwardly into communication with the outer surface of said tubing, and cooperating therewith to form a smooth joint, sleeve means within said tube and substantially coextensive with said counterbore securing said tube and needle together, and a fitting on the other end of said tube.

v 6. In an intravenous therapy device as in claim 5, and astylet inserted into said fitting, tube and needle to rigidly support the same in alignment throughout their lengths,

said stylet having a shoulder to cooperate with said sleeve to exert pressure thereon to move said needle and tube into a vein.

7. In an intravenous therapy device as set forth in claim 6, means on said fitting to predeterminately position said stylet when the same is inserted into said fitting, tube and needle, and means on said stylet to cooperate with said fitting means.

8. In an intravenous therapy device having a needle of relatively short length and permanently and integrally connected to a flexible tube for insertion into a vein beyond the length of said needle, said needle having a point at its end remote from said tube and smoothly joining into connection with said tube at its other end.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

